Peruvian Jetliner Carrying 46 People Feared Down in Jungle

Published: January 10, 2003

LIMA, Peru, Jan. 9—
A Tans Perú jetliner carrying 42 passengers and 4 crewmembers lost contact with air traffic controllers today and was feared to have crashed as it approached an airport in the Amazon jungle.

Jorge Belevan, in charge of public relations for Tans Peru, the state airline, said in an RPP radio interview that the plane, a Fokker F-28, declared an emergency at 8:43 a.m.

''From that point on,'' Mr. Belevan said, ''we lost contact with the plane and have not had more news.''

Another Tans spokesman said officials had lost contact with the aircraft about five minutes before it was scheduled to land.

The Peruvian air force was searching for the missing plane.

A telephone operator in Luya, near Chachapoyas, told RPP that medical officials were heading to an area called Lonya Chico.

''It appears that there are people wounded,'' the operator said.

The government of Peru has been promoting the country's mountainous jungle region as a destination for tourists.

Mr. Belevan said later that hope was fading that the plane could still be circling, because its fuel reserves would have been depleted.

''Now the only hope we have is that it made a forced landing in an airstrip in the area or somewhere near Chachapoyas,'' he said. ''We are awaiting police information.''

Lima Airport Partners, the private company that operates Lima's international airport, identified the flight as Tans Flight 222 and aircraft number 1396.

Mr. Belevan said the aircraft was traveling from the coastal city of Chiclayo to Chachapoyas, about 390 miles north of Lima. Chachapoyas is often visited by tourists traveling to Kuelap, a mountain citadel predating the Spanish conquest of the Americas.

A spokesman for the Chiclayo airport said the aircraft took off at 8:17 a.m. for the 30-minute flight.

Tans Peru started its twice-weekly route in November as part of a plan to promote tourism in the area and promote Kuelap.

CPN radio reported that Tans said two foreigners were traveling on the plane. The company was not immediately available to confirm the report.

The worst air crash ever in Peru was on Feb. 29, 1996, when a Boeing 737 belonging to the local Faucett Airline slammed into the Andes as it prepared to land in Arequipa, 600 miles south of Lima, on a flight from the capital.

All 117 passengers and 6 crew members were killed in that accident.

Twelve people died in October 1988 when a Fokker-28, operated by the former state airline, AeroPerú, crashed in Juliaca in southern part of the country shortly after taking off.

Some 69 passengers and crew survived the crash.

Map of Peru highlighting Chachapoyas: A plane was thought to have crashed near Chachapoyas, Peru.